When You Think There’s Nothing Left…
Teamwork pulls competitors through Seal Adventure Challenge Story and photos by Dawn Taylor

“This is when it gets interesting,” Instructor John Rea, a retired SEAL, told the competitors as they began the infamous SEAL log exercises. These are the ones in which five or six guys do sit-ups, overhead presses, lunges and other inhumane tricks with two hundred pound-sections of telephone poles.

As competitors started dropping due to leg cramps, vomiting and exhaustion, Rea commanded that the trainees protect their teammates, carry their weight, and keep them from the instructors, who he said were “after blood.” This might sound like a scene from a documentary on the intensity of SEAL Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training, but the students were not SEAL trainees.

They were a diverse group of 55 civilians ages 16 – 47, including a 23-year-old woman, who were all taking part in the 5th SEAL Adventure Challenge offered by Odyssey Adventure Racing in Virginia Beach, VA, and presented by Blackhawk Industries.

The log PT was just one exercise in a long series of activities that made up the 24-hour event, which is the closest civilians can come to participating in SEAL training. The day began with an introduction of the instructors and a briefing on the role the SEALs have played in the military. Scott Norton, a decorated SEAL veteran and recruiter encouraged those who were interested in going to BUD/S. He told them the next 24 hours would give them a realistic idea of what would be expected of them, should they be chosen for the highly coveted training. The impressive lineup of SEAL and other Special Forces instructors promised the class they would learn important lessons on the value of teamwork, and that each individual would find out what is inside of them AFTER they thought there was nothing left.

This pleasant and civilized exchange came to an abrupt end, however, as soon as the participants hit the tarmac outside and were placed on teams. Immediately, they were face down on the pavement “pushing them out” as instructors barked the count. Any deviation of the rules, any delay in response, or any other display of weakness would result in similar punishment throughout the day.

Beginning with pool drills, the trainees learned tough lessons quickly. With hands tethered behind them, the participants were asked to become “drown-proof” by descending to the bottom of the pool, then rising to catch a breath before going down again.

Teamwork became evident immediate, as some of the stronger swimmers held up those who could no longer stay afloat while treading water. When instructors found someone faltering, they would be called out of the pool for flutter kicks, more push-ups and other forms of “discipline.”

During the Physical Readiness Test, already weary participants did timed push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups, and ran a fast-paced 3 miles — striving with all their energy to gain points during the only portion of the event that pitted them against their teammates. “It pays to be a winner,” the instructors all shouted. That lesson was reiterated throughout the day, as those who were slower or less motivated suffered the painful consequences.

The Seal Adventure Challenge offered a 6-hour option for those who were not ready to commit to the longer version of this simulated BUD/S “hell-week.” As those 7 individuals prepared to leave, event organizer Don Mann suggested that they should stay for the log PT and boat carry. Three intrepid men stayed.

It’s surprisingly hard to say “no” to a former SEAL with a reputation for putting on the most brutal and extreme sporting events in the country, and whose motto is “Your PAIN is our PLEASURE.” “You should welcome the pain,” he would later tell them as they struggled with their logs. “Humans have an incredible ability to take pain and will pass out if it’s too much,” he added. “I don’t see anyone passed out here.”

While half the group suffered under the weight of the logs, the rest were suffering under the crushing weight of their large rubber boats, which they carried over their heads across the sand dunes. “We’re gonna laugh about this tomorrow” one optimistic Challenger shouted as his teammates groaned and cried under the pressure. Despite his encouragement, the boat crews took too long to get their boats in the water.

As a result, Instructor Alan Holmes a Army Special Forces Captain, made them do push-ups in the sand with the boats on their shoulders. When they failed to do this to the his satisfaction, they were asked to crawl, and roll in the sand. One particularly humiliating punishment was when SEAL instructor Paul Wherries (a.k.a. Instructor Grinch) repeatedly blew his whistle. Each trainee had to drop and crawl over other trainees until they could touch his legs — resulting in a pile of wet, sandy competitors all gathered at the foot of the grinning Grinch… (Known as the Grinch Pile as seen in the photo on the left.)

After several hours of boat drills and other “fun” at the beach, every competitor was completely covered in wet sand, which made carrying logs, boats and each other all the more miserable. At this point, displays of teamwork abounded, as competitors actually carried each other, and not just in the wounded-man-carry exercise. They also shared body heat, as they huddled together, which competitors said helped to “eliminate all the barriers and expand the comfort zones” between these relative strangers.

The night ended with a mission designed by Instructor Chris Smith, a former Navy SEAL, who had gained notoriety throughout the day as one of the most demanding and unforgiving instructors. The trainees, donning camouflaged face paint, were briefed on field communication, stealth, recon and extraction techniques, and were assigned a hostage rescue operation.

They had until sunrise to locate and remove two downed pilots from armed enemy camps. With the full moon to light their every action and no wind to cover the sound of their movements, they would need to be proceed carefully.

The teamwork that was forged earlier in the day was now needed as the participants moved and worked together to achieve their objective. Awareness and energy levels were heightened now that the teams were working as a whole toward a common goal. Crawling facedown in the sand, a task that earlier seemed humiliating and painful, now made sense, as did they stealthily moved in on their targets. After successful boat entries and recon activities, each team successfully completed their mission.

As the sun rose and with the mission behind them, the trainees gathered around a campfire to talk about their accomplishments. Each held their head a bit higher and the pride they felt could be seen in their bloodshot eyes. Their camouflaged faces and wet, sandy clothing were stark reminders of how they had spent the last 24 hours.

It’s the mental toughness that got them through the event, Don Mann said, “I’m not aware of any place else that puts you through what you just did. Your body can only get so strong, but there’s no stopping how strong you can get your mind.” Captain Bob Schoultz, former Commander of Naval Special Warfare Group TWO, congratulated them on being able to “enjoy the sublime moments of being SEAL commando.” And encouraged all to “live with honor and integrity and to build on their physical and mental toughness.”

Competitors Share Their Thoughts…
After the event, many competitors are also compelled to share their thoughts about the profound effect the event had on them. Here are a few of their comments:

“I wanted to thank you personally for the most miserable physical 24 hours I have spent in my life. I loved every minute of it! It is not very often in life that we get to push ourselves beyond our pre-conceived, puny perceptions.” — Mark Mueller

“I know that our boys not only were challenged physically, but more importantly, learned a lot about commitment, dedication, team work and love for one’s country. God bless.” — Tom Worosz

“I look forward to the next 24-hour Challenge and what it is going to make me bring out in myself. You and all of your instructors brought out the best in many of us.” — Michael Piet

“My profound thanks for one of the great experiences of my life. The most rewarding moments were the ones in which the greatest demands were being made. Another [lesson learned] was humility. How seriously can you take yourself in other life situations, knowing you’ve crawled through the sand gasping for breath while cold, wet, tired and miserable.” — Dan Freedman

“It made me more tolerant and accepting of others’ limitations. The increased intensity and clarity are things I can bring back to the corporate world.” — Steve Reuss

The Seal Adventure Challenge was originally designed as a recruiting tool for the Navy after founder CWO (Ret.) SEAL Don Mann, was asked to design an event that would spark the interest of potential recruits. This remains a primary goal of the organizers and the Navy officials who support the event.

]]>The Forces Are with Themhttp://www.usfrogmann.com/the-forces-are-with-them/
Sat, 06 May 2017 19:29:30 +0000http://www.usfrogmann.com/?p=3108https://www.si.com/vault/2004/04/19/368010/the-forces-are-with-them# It’s been a couple of days since I got back from Camp Pendleton in Southern California. The bad news is that I had a little trouble transcribing parts of […]

It’s been a couple of days since I got back from Camp Pendleton in Southern California. The bad news is that I had a little trouble
transcribing parts of interviews I tape-recorded on the shooting range. I’m sorry. Could you repeat that? The good news is that the ringing in my ears has almost completely gone away.

I was there to hang out with Thom Shea, a Navy SEAL instructor who is also an avid adventure racer. The SEALs, those special-operations ninjas who endure some of the toughest military training in the world, have long been drawn to this sport. (Two years before he created the Eco-Challenge, Mark Burnett–along with three SEALs and a TV producer named Susan Hemond–finished a creditable ninth in the 1993 Raid Gauloises in Madagascar.)

While SEALs have a tradition of applying their Sea, Air and Land skills to Raids and Ecos, Shea is taking things a step further, making the sport work for him. He has begun incorporating some of the lessons of adventure racing into his SEAL instruction.

Such as? I wondered when I heard about this. Trekking poles as interrogation devices? An empty camelBak bladder as an impromptu
breathing device?

Nothing quite so esoteric, says Shea, who emphasizes to his charges that because things tend to go awry in SEAL missions just as they do in adventure races, both require flexibility and creativity in solving problems. “A team leader has to be able to roll with whatever happens,” says Shea, who decreed, after studying the 400-plus-mile course for last September’s Subaru Primal Quest in South Lake Tahoe, that his team would average four mph and rest four hours a day. That squad, Team Warrior Foundation (which raises money for children of Special Forces soldiers killed in action), was thrown off schedule two hours into the race, when its four-person kayak was swamped, then sunk, by choppy waters on Lake Tahoe.

“As in adventure racing, your [SEAL] mission almost never turns out the way you planned it, ” says former SEAL Don Mann. “So we
always say, ‘Be Gumby, be flexible, do a lot of contingency planning.'” Mann is the president of Odyssey Adventure Racing, which puts on, among other ordeals, er, events, the 24-hour SEAL Adventure Challenge in Virginia Beach and a seven-day New Balance Adventure Racing Academy (open to anyone) in West Virginia. Also a Raid veteran, Mann sees many parallels between his sport and his former career. “In some ways adventure racing is easier” than being a SEAL, he says. “When you’re out in the woods at night during a race, you can talk out loud, and you can turn on a light.”

But in some ways, Mann goes on, it’s harder. “Hell Week [the five grueling days that are the heart of SEAL training] is brutal, but you do get four meals a day, and there’s an ambulance nearby.”

Special Forces in general, and SEALs in particular, are given far more rein by the military than are regular grunts. They are encouraged–indeed, required–to be creative and audacious in solving problems. “We’re faced with daunting obstacles, and we have to come up with ingenious ways to overcome them,” says Shea. An example he cites to his SEAL wannabes: When a teammate got a flat during a mountain biking leg at the Primal Quest, the Warriors discovered that they had no extra tubes. Eight teams passed them; none had a tube to spare. In desperation, they stuffed the tire with long grass. “It was loose and floppy,” says Shea, “but at least it got us back on the course.”

]]>Subject Yourself to Hell, For Fun, at the SEAL Adventure Challengehttp://www.usfrogmann.com/subject-yourself-to-hell-for-fun-at-the-seal-adventure-challenge/
Sat, 06 May 2017 19:22:15 +0000http://www.usfrogmann.com/?p=3104https://www.cigarworld.com/cw-magazine/subject-yourself-to-hell-for-fun-at-the-seal-adventure-challenge/ Before you head to the SEAL Adventure Challenge, you might want to start jogging or something. And then after that, get in the best shape of your entire damn […]

Before you head to the SEAL Adventure Challenge, you might want to start jogging or something.

And then after that, get in the best shape of your entire damn life and mentally prepare yourself for the worst day of it. Just do that and everything’ll be peachy.

Everyone, including those who ignore the real world successes and have only seen the Charlie Sheen movie, knows that Navy SEALs are some of the most highly trained and indestructible warriors on the planet. Most people have at least heard legends about the extreme training processes that get them there. Only the most daring, audacious, or aggressively idiotic will agree to engage in a program that compresses the SEALs’ famed Hell Week into a single day of unrelenting pain and exhaustion.

This is the SEAL Adventure Challenge. SEAL team 6 Chief Warrant Officer Don Mann did 20 years as a SEAL. Now he ensures truly bold men feel what he felt, over a 24 period so grueling, even Oliver Twist wouldn’t dare ask for more.

Ever done situps on a beach while a massive log weighing hundreds of pounds is pressed against your chest? How about running on wet sand that your feet can’t help but plunge deep into with every stride, while completely soaking wet, while still carrying that log? And then maybe a 500 yard swim (it’s SO much farther than you’re picturing) followed by a 1.5 mile sand run. That one’s log-less.

But then comes the drowning. They call it “drown-proofing,” but your body will know it as “the worst thing ever.” Just lay down on the beach with all your new, similarly insane buddies, interlock arms, and let the surf wash over your face, violently. No matter how bad you want to, you don’t get to move. Your body will be convinced that it’s drowning. Welcome to waterboarding camp.

But that’s not all! There’s of course plenty of running, and more huge logs, but those are easy by now. Or actually infinitely harder, since your body is about to give out, but at least they’re familiar. Next up is a pool, where new suffering is introduced. Ever tried to tread water with no hands? How about a while holding a brick above your head? Again: it’s all in the name of drown-proofing.

Oh, and did we forget to mention that you do all these things for 24 hours straight, without any sleep whatsoever? SEALs hate sleep.

Only 60% make it through the real Navy SEAL Hell Week, and they are hardened warriors already. The SEAL Adventure Challenge doesn’t reveal its attrition rate, but they also don’t take it easy on you just because you’re paying. You show up with your required supplies — shirt, pants, boots, watch, swim goggles, “money for emergencies” (no, paying the instructors off to pull your face out of the pounding waves doesn’t count as an emergency) — and they treat you like you want to be treated. Which is, of course, terribly.

]]>Primal Quest: Who Is Don Mann?http://www.usfrogmann.com/primal-quest-who-is-don-mann/
Sat, 06 May 2017 19:20:05 +0000http://www.usfrogmann.com/?p=3102http://theadventureblog.blogspot.ca/2009/02/primal-quest-who-is-don-mann.html The good folks from South Dakota, who will be playing host to Primal Quest Badlands this summer, put out a cool press release earlier today with all kind of […]

The good folks from South Dakota, who will be playing host to Primal Quest Badlands this summer, put out a cool press release earlier today with all kind of information about my PQ boss Don Mann. Don is the director of PQ, and the quite an interesting guy, as you’ll see below.

“Don Mann is just one of those guys who has been there and done that. Pulling from his unique life experiences he is able to produce events that allow participants, whether competitors or volunteers, to redefine their limits,” said Chris Caul, Primal Quest Course Director. “I’ve known Don for just over 12 years now and I often wonder how different my life might have been if I had not signed up for that first “Don Mann race”. I am glad I did and am honored to call him a friend.”

Don is an extraordinary person who has inspired and motivated people from all over the world; including business professionals, government and military personnel, Navy SEALs, and athletes from beginner level to world-class. He has staged more multi-day, multi-sport races than any other individual in the world.

“After getting to know Don over the phone I was so intrigued that it was exciting to finally meet him in person. Don not only sees the best in everything and everyone; he sees no limits,” said Matt Reed, Sports & Events Sales Manager for the Rapid City Convention and Visitors Bureau. “When you hear stories of Don’s amazing life experiences you are left asking yourself, ‘Have I done everything I’m capable of? Have I challenged my limits?’ He just has that effect on people.”

Did You Know…

·Don’s first running race was the Boston Marathon; his first triathlon was the Hawaii Ironman; and his first adventure race was the 500-mile/10-day Raid Gauloises in Patagonia

·Don’s nickname in the SEAL Teams was Chief Warrant Officer Manslaughter, and in his civilian career he’s known as “Sweet Satan.”

·At the age of 45, Don competed in the Odyssey Double Iron Triathlon which is a 4.8-mile swim, 224-mile bike, and 52-mile run.

Interview with Don Mann

Don Mann is The Man, a consummate adventure warrior with a lean, muscular physique and ten-thousand-yard athletic stare. Well-known throughout the U.S. as race director and founder of Odyssey Adventure Racing, which annually organizes off-road duathlons, triathlons, adventure races, adventure racing academies, half, double and triple-Ironman events,and SEAL Training events, our man Mann boasts one of the most impressive rsums to have crossed our desks at RailRiders.

The retired Navy SEAL warrant officer was named Navy Men’s Senior Athlete of the Year in 1997, and has captained adventure racing teams dating back to the 1995 Raid in Patagonia. The soft-spoken, 44-year-old Virginia Beach, Virginia resident has been racing road bikes since the mid 1970s, and currently prefers masochistic 24-hour off-road solo events and adventure racing. He’s competed in over a thousand endurance events including marathons, ultras, adventure races, bike races, and triathlons–which included a 38th place finish at the 1981 Hawaii Ironman. His finishers T-shirt from that race is now part of a finish-line quilt for his bed.

His current project is course designer, race manager and director for the TimeWarner/IMAX production Race to the Pole, and pending a $10 million sponsor, will encompass multiple athletic disciplines that require competitors to start at the equator in Ecuador and finish at the North Pole. Donning the race director cap, Mann is also organizing The American Odyssey which will begin at the Canadian-U.S. border and travel to the U.S.-Mexican border. This race will consist of 22 disciplines, including. skydiving, Jeep driving, diving, rock climbing, mountaineering, mountain and road biking, canoe, kayak and raft paddling, running, and motocross.

Don’s the kind of guy who would have been a natural for CBS’s Survivor; in fact, hes a close pal of fellow SEAL, Rudy, the unforgettable and straight-talking crusty old sea dog who made that first season such a ratings success. Rudy is a god, a legend, among SEALS, says Mann. He works with us at our SEAL Adventure Challenges which put participants through a single day of SEAL Hell Week.

Now retired from the SEALS, Mann had served in numerous hotspots (Serbia, Philippines, Somalia, Colombia, El Salvador, Panama), but post 9-11 he returned to the active, patriotic fold of the SEALS, and spent time in Afghanistan for what he euphemistically calls continued service to his country. He deliberately avoids mentioning exactly what this type of service entailed, nor did we choose to press the issue. The SEALS, Americas most elite fighting unit, prefer it this way, covertly, culturally and institutionally situated far from the glare of publicity.

Yet he offered this candid observation, “We in America treat our pets better than the Afghans treat their own people. I can’t tell you how many one or no-legged young and old men I saw who had lost their limbs from stepping on land mines, but seemed to be happy that it was their leg(s), and not their military trucks, that got blown up.” Sad, grisly, horrific, true.

On a much less somber note, however, Mann, who owns a closetful of RailRiders back home, mentioned that he has worn his RailRiders during many of his SEAL missions. In many of these places we deploy, it’s hot and dusty, so you need a shirt that is cool and well-ventilated. My Expedition shirt is perfect for this. And when I am racing, training, or being a race director, I live in my RailRiders. I have worn my Weatherpants for the longest time, year after year. They don’t rip, dont tear, don’t snag on thorns, they dry quickly, bend in the right places, and are bombproof.”

]]>Retired Navy Seal who trained SEAL Team Six speakshttp://www.usfrogmann.com/retired-navy-seal-who-trained-seal-team-six-speaks/
Sat, 06 May 2017 19:16:53 +0000http://www.usfrogmann.com/?p=3098http://www.wfmz.com/news/western-new-jersey/retired-navy-seal-who-trained-seal-team-six-speaks/21533239 PHILLIPSBURG, NJ – When Osama bin Laden was assassinated back in 2011, SEAL Team Six became synonymous with heroism, duty, and justice. And the man behind training that group […]

]]>Team Odyssey Vows: Go Hard Or Go Home — Competitors To Test Selves Against Nature, Own Limitshttp://www.usfrogmann.com/team-odyssey-vows-go-hard-or-go-home-competitors-to-test-selves-against-nature-own-limits/
Sat, 06 May 2017 19:12:27 +0000http://www.usfrogmann.com/?p=3096http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950820&slug=2137382 DURHAM, N.H. – For ardent runners, the Boston Marathon demands months of training. For two cousins from Chicago and a buddy, it was practice for the 300 miles of […]

DURHAM, N.H. – For ardent runners, the Boston Marathon demands months of training. For two cousins from Chicago and a buddy, it was practice for the 300 miles of glacier walking, rappelling and canoeing they will tackle in an international competition in December.

“We looked at it as kind of preparation, as a workout,” Michael Sawyer said.

Sawyer and Marc Davis of Chicago and Grant Staats of Albany, N.Y., are training with the four other well-honed men and women for the seventh annual Raid Gauloises.

Little-known in the United States, the endurance contest to end all endurance contests will be held Dec. 4-15 in Patagonia, Argentina. Pared down to five members, the self-named Team Odyssey and 39 other groups will test themselves against nature, the clock and the limits of their own abilities.

The competition is a race to complete a pre-set journey whose path is revealed to athletes shortly before they set out. Teams, which must have at least one woman, often forgo sleep to best competitors at camel and horseback riding, caving, mountain biking, parachuting, sky diving, running, paragliding, skiing, navigating through woods, backpacking and kayaking.

French reporter Gerard Fusil created the event in 1989, and previous “raids” have been held in New Zealand, Costa Rica, New Caledonia, Oman, Madagascar and Borneo.

A team is disqualified if it crosses the finish line without all five members.

“The team goes as fast as its slowest person,” said Scott Wurdinger, a University of New Hampshire professor who helps train the Team Odyssey.

Team Odyssey’s motto: Go Hard or Go Home. The team is comprised of:

— Davis, 27, who owns a cleaning business in Chicago, where he coaches high school basketball.

— Aric Liberman, a 24-year-old Navy SEAL, a highly trained volunteer commando, who will study landscape architecture at North Carolina State University in Raleigh when his enlistment ends this fall.

— Don Mann, a 37-year-old Navy SEAL from Myrtle Beach, S.C., based in Norfolk, Va., who has exercised every day since 1979.

— Sarah Mann (no relation to Don Mann), 25, a teacher and firefighter originally from Seattle but who now lives in Wasilla, Alaska.

— Sawyer, 28, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and investment banker in Chicago who helped organize the team.

— Staats, a 35-year-old engineering student at State University of New York-Albany and reserve Navy SEAL.

Only five people per team will be allowed to compete in Argentina, but Team Odyssey’s other two members and coach David Lockett will be at checkpoints for planning and support.

The training began with a day of hiking and canoeing during which team members went 24 hours without sleep.

Lockett acknowledges team members need an extra measure of dedication.

“I wanted people who were frothing at the mouth wanting to do this. It’s not like, `I would like to do this;’ it’s `I need to do this,’ ” he said.

Money for training, equipment and the trip to South American is coming from team members and sponsors including Gatorade and PowerBar.

After the competition, the team plans to donate training equipment to the Boy Scouts of Chicago. If it wins, the team has pledged to give the $50,000 grand prize to charity.

Except for Lynch and Sawyer, team members are single. All agreed preparing for the Raid Gauloises consumes their free time and eats into their sleep and social lives. Lynch, for example, said she gets up at 5 a.m. and goes to sleep at midnight so she can fit in everything. Davis said training cost him a relationship with a woman about whom he was serious. He took it as a lesson.

“That just means she wasn’t right,” he said.

Nonetheless, the seven say they are not doing anything extraordinary. They point out they are all working people with regular lives, albeit, lives on hold.

“We’ve tried to show the everyday working man can get involved in this,” Sawyer said.

Team members predict that exacting multi-day, many-sport events will become a trend of the ’90s.

According to its promotional literature, Raid Gauloises competition offers “full autonomy, a total immersion in a natural environment . . . and a new lifestyle which makes a clean break from the everyday routine of technological society.”

Va. Beach Outfit Takes Fitness To Next Level

For 16 years, Don Mann has gotten paid to be cold and wet, physically exhausted and generally miserable.

But come June, those will all be strictly leisure-time pursuits.

Mann, a Norfolk-based Chief Warrant Officer in the Navy’s SEAL Teams, will retire in June and, if all goes well, spend his days colder, wetter and more worn out in his new life than he ever was in the Navy.

“It’s funny,” said Mann, who lives in Virginia Beach. “I’m retiring from the SEALs to do the things I joined the SEALs to do.”

It’s a workload that SEALs might take on in the name of foreign policy, but for Mann and a small group of local ultra-endurance athletes, it’s just a fun weekend.

They call it Adventure Racing.

“I’ve tried a lot of sports,” said Mann, 40. “This is what I’ve been looking for all my life.”

Adventure races are ultra-endurance rallies covering all manner of outdoor skills, from running and technical climbing to kayaking and mountain biking. One-day races are exploding in popularity – much as triathlons did in the 1980s – while elite races can last a week and cover hundreds of miles.

The sport’s professionals are scattered around the globe. New Zealand and Australia have thriving communities, as does France, while a wave of elite Americans have begun popping up in places like Northern California and New England.

And now, thanks to Mann, they’ve arrived in Virginia Beach, where since 1995 he’s recruited SEALs, triathletes and other similarly minded souls with whom to train and compete.

One of his first converts was Mike Nolan, whom he met while both were competing at a local triathlon. Nolan, 35, had seen adventure races on TV and jumped at the chance to try them. Together, the two founded Odyssey Adventure Racing.

This June, Odyssey will host its own race, a five-day, 300-mile trek through western Virginia’s mountain country. Dubbed the Beast Of The East, it will be the first long-distance adventure race held on the East Coast. In May, the company will begin week-long racing “academies,” camps open to anyone with the fitness and guts to try the sport.

Knowing Mann, said Nolan, has been a wild ride.

“He called me in October begging me to do the Mt. Masochist race,” said Nolan. Mt. Masochist is 53-mile trail race through the mountains near Lynchburg. “That was on a whim. He couldn’t find anybody to do it with him. The farthest I’d run that year was 13 miles, and I’d just bought new running shoes. And you can’t run a race like that in new shoes.”

Still, he went, and the two slept in Mann’s car the night before the race. Nolan finished in about 12 hours. “Then we had to take this bus back,” said Nolan. “The heat didn’t reach the back, so we were shivering the whole way. That was the worst part, feeling your legs cramp up for two hours.”

Nolan, Mann and Team Odyssey made their international debut last year in the toughest adventure race of them all: the Raid Gauloises, a 10-day, 400-mile French-sponsored race. Team Odyssey, one of three American teams, finished 20th.

“The hardest thing we ever do in the SEALs is Hell Week,” said Mann, referring to the five-day portion of initial SEAL training in which recruits are put through nonstop savage physical conditioning rituals, sleeping no more than four hours all week. “Psychologically, Hell Week is tougher, because you have instructors who are pushing you to your absolute limit. They know how to get out of you what you didn’t even know you had. But just physically, nothing compares to the Raid.”

The previous Raid, held in 1995 in Argentina’s Patagonia mountains, was Mann’s introduction to adventure racing. He blindly agreed to captain a Raid team consisting of another SEAL, a woman known as an expert racer, and two Chicago businessmen hoping to become the first black Americans to finish the Raid.

Gung-ho as they were, the two Chicago men were woefully inexperienced in outdoor sports like paddling and climbing, and it took less than a day in Argentina for Mann to realize they weren’t going to make it.

On a first-day climb, one of the men kicked loose a rock that shattered his cousin’s hand. The injury forced him to be helicoptered out. The next day, high up a Patagonia peak, the same guy kicked loose another rock that hit Mann in the head and leg.

“I leaned forward to keep from passing out,” said Mann. “When I looked up, he didn’t even realize what he’d done.”

Two days and he’d almost been killed. That left eight more days to whittle away at the “almost.”

“It was awful,” said Mann. “We were in last place, a day behind the next team. We’d come through a checkpoint and they’d pull up the flags marking the course.”